On Friday night, we were in service and the pastor asked us to pray to hear God’s voice in that moment. (This is not something I was ready for, if you haven’t read part one of this blog, do it here.) All I could think was, oh crap, here we go again. But I did it, I prayed for God to let me hear his voice. After hearing some good advice from my squad leader a day earlier, I had decided that I would take whatever could be in the realm of possibility and I’d try it out. So I tried to clear my head and listen. I took out a piece of paper and wrote down what ever popped in to my mind:
You listen, but you do not hear.
Here I am, I have been here all along.
Ok so, that was crazy. Exactly what I needed to hear. But I still wasn’t sure. I coun’t help but think that it was my own thoughts. So then, because I like to pester, I went back to God and said – Ok, I need a sign that this is real. And nothing happened. Nothing at all. worship ended, the music turned off and we all sat down to hear Vittali’s sermon. Needless to say, I was super disappointed. We turned to Acts 2, the story of Pentecost and the pastor started talking about our power with the holy spirit. As I started to zone out, I looked down at the notes in the bottom of my bible, it said something like this – These people experienced God in a huge way, but in 1 Kings 19:10-13, Elijah experienced God in the “sound of sheer silence”. God may use drastic methods to speak in your life – or he may speak in gentle whispers. Wait patiently and listen.
Whoa. God spoke to me, just as I had given up, but just when I needed it the most. He spoke to me in gentle whispers and through a book that had sat right in my lap for so many years. It doesn’t look the same as what I expected or what it looks like for other people, but it was so relieving and exciting. It couldn’t have come at a better time I wont ever take advantage of hearing the Lord’s voice, and I know that he won’t hold back forever, even if I might feel that way at the moment. Acts 1:7 says “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the father has set by his own authority”. He has timing for everything that is so good and so sweet.
